Mobile gaming has shifted, again. The hypercasual genre has begun to dominate the free app charts. In 2017 Ketchapp (now owned by Ubisoft) started a revolution of simplicity in game design with mobile titles such as Tower or Ballz. The games focused on clear visuals and simple mechanics and very light progression systems. They also importantly removed IAP as the core monetization and replaced it with Advertising revenue.

It’s close to that time of year when everyone in the industry gets ready to take a plane halfway around the world to meet the gaming community at GDC 2018. Personally speaking, it’s one of the only times I see half of my ex-colleagues each year.

This two-part series explores the modern practices in mobile game development by interviewing 9 mobile game studios. The work is based on a master’s thesis Conquering the Mobile from Aalto University, Finland wherein you can find detailed references to cases and articles.

This two-part series explores the modern practices in mobile game development by interviewing 9 mobile game studios. The work is based on a Aalto University master’s thesis Conquering the Mobile wherein you can find detailed references to cases and articles.

Messenger games could be the next land grab opportunity in the mobile space. I spoke at Digital Dragons conference in Poland, evaluating the different messenger platforms (iMessage, Facebook Messenger and WeChat) as potential routes to market. There are still a large number of restrictions on what you can do as a developer, but the scale and gamer engagement seen on new Messenger platforms is a positive sign.

In August I spoke at GDC Europe in Köln about the independent team structure at Wooga. Not everyone knows this, but at Wooga, each team has the final say on all decisions regarding their project. The CEO & Management cannot tell the team what to work on. The team decides on everything including what technology to use, what genre to go after, and how to execute on it.